AUSTRALIA
Same-sex marriage vote set
The government is to hold a national vote on Feb. 11 on whether to allow same-sex marriage, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said yesterday. “Our job is to ensure that the Australian people have the opportunity to express their view and to do so in a manner that is fair and impartial,” he told a news conference in Canberra. Turnbull said he would introduce a bill for the plebiscite to parliament this week that he expected would be passed by the lower house, although he admitted it could be blocked by opponents in the Senate. However, the vote is non-binding, meaning that even if the plebiscite is passed by a majority of voters, parliamentarians do not have to pass legislation in support of same-sex marriage.
INDIA
Curfew set in Bangalore
A curfew was imposed yesterday on Bangalore after a protester was killed overnight during violence over a long-running water dispute with the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu. Thousands of police and paramilitary officers were deployed on the largely deserted streets of the city, after stone-pelting mobs went on the rampage on Monday setting buses and cars ablaze. “One person died when the police fired to disperse a mob attempting to torch a patrolling police vehicle after ransacking a provisions shop in the city’s north,” Bangalore north Deputy Commissioner T.R. Suresh said. The violence erupted over a Supreme Court order for Karnataka state, of which Bangalore is the capital, to release water from a river to ease a shortage in Tamil Nadu until later this month.
CHINA
Tianjin’s new boss named
The former Chinese Communist Party secretary for Hubei Province, Li Hongzhong (李鴻忠), has been named as the new party boss for Tianjin. The party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on Saturday announced that Tianjin Mayor and acting party chief Huang Xingguo (黃興國) was being investigated. Li, 60, has been appointed as Tianjin’s party secretary and would no longer hold his positions in Hubei, Xinhua news agency said.
RUSSIA
Multinational link to bomb
A senior FSB security service official yesterday said that individuals linked to Russia, China and Tajikistan were behind a suicide bomb attack on the Chinese embassy in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek last month, the RIA news agency said. Deputy FSB head Sergei Smirnov said there were “Tajik, Chinese and Russian traces behind the terrorist attack,” which he said had been uncovered during an investigation conducted with security services from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Kyrgyzstan’s security service said last week that the attack had been ordered by Uighur militants active in Syria and carried out by a member of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement.
AUSTRALIA
Macquarie facility to close
The nation’s permanent station at Macquarie Island is to close after almost seven decades, officials said yesterday, citing environmental contamination concerns and aging infrastructure. The decision to shut the station follows an independent engineering investigation which highlighted growing safety, environment and ocean inundation risks, the Australian Antarctic Division said. Division Director Nick Gales said some scientists would be disappointed, but the cost of refurbishing the station “could not be justified within existing budgets.”
CANADA
Storied ship found
The second of two British explorer ships that vanished in the Arctic about 170 years ago during a storied expedition to find the fabled Northwest Passage has been found. The Arctic Research Foundation on Monday said that the HMS Terror has been located by a research ship. Last seen in the 1840s while under the command of Sir John Franklin, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror have long been among the most sought-after prizes in marine archeology. “Terror was found on Sept. 3. It is a perfect time capsule,” said Adrian Schimnowski, the expedition leader of the research ship that located the HMS Terror. The Terror was discovered in 24m of water in Terror Bay. It was located right where an Inuit hunter said it would be.
ARGENTINA
Ex-president subpoenaed
Former president Cristina Fernandez has been subpoenaed to testify as part of an investigation into the awarding of public works contracts during her 2007-2015 administration, according to court papers filed on Monday. Corruption charges have long swirled around Fernandez and her husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner. She denies wrongdoing and accuses President Mauricio Macri of using the courts to persecute her.
RUSSIA
Metal firm admits spill
Metals giant Norilsk Nickel on Monday admitted a spillage at one of its plants was responsible for turning a local river blood-red. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment last week launched a probe into the incident after images showed the Daldykan River near Norilsk in the far north flowing bright red, with local activists blaming the nearby Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant. After initially refusing to confirm a leak, Norilsk Nickel said heavy rains on Sept. 5 had resulted in water flooding over a “filtration dam” at the plant and into the river. “Despite the short-term discoloration of the water ... this incident does not present a danger for people or fauna in the river,” the company said in a statement.
UNITED STATES
Burned mosque to be rebuilt
The Muslim community said it will repair and reopen the arson-damaged Florida mosque that was occasionally attended by Orlando nightclub gunman Omar Mateen. Assistant Imam Hamaad Rahman of the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce said the mosque’s approximately 100 members are “saddened and scared” by the fire. It started late on Sunday and burned for more than five hours before it was extinguished early Monday. The fire was started on the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the start of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha.
UNITED STATES
Lottery winners a mystery
Lawyers for a New Hampshire family on Monday claimed a US$487 million Powerball jackpot on their behalf, saying the winners wished to remain anonymous, but would do “great things” with their newfound wealth. Attorneys for the family’s new trust claimed the prize at a news conference after weeks of suspense about the identity of the winner of the nation’s eighth-largest lottery jackpot. The winning ticket for the July 30 drawing was sold at a Hannaford supermarket in Raymond, a town of about 10,000 residents. The final payout after taxes is US$256 million, and the money is to be placed in a trust. Attorneys for the family announced US$100,000 in donations to charity and said the family plans to donate more.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia